Από το βίο του αγίου Σάββα
The Guarding of the Mind as Prerequisite for Solitude
St. Sabbas only granted a cell to those who had mastered guarding the mind and renounced worldly attachments, and the author challenges readers who sit idle without such discipline.
So when the divine Sabbas saw that someone who had renounced worldly things had carefully learned the rule of the monastic life, and that he could guard his mind and fight against evil thoughts, and further that he had completely cast away the memory of worldly things, then he would give him a cell in the Lavra—if he was weak in body and prone to sickness. But if he was healthy and strong, he would give him permission to build a cell himself. Do you see that even the divine Sabbas required his disciples to guard the mind, and only then allowed them to sit alone in a cell? What will we do—we who sit idle in our cells and don't even know whether the guarding of the mind exists?
Read the original Greek
Όταν λοιπόν ο θείος Σάββας έβλεπε ότι κάποιος που απαρνήθηκε τα εγκόσμια, έμαθε πια με ακρίβεια τον κανόνα της ζωής των Μοναχών και ότι μπορούσε να φυλάει το νου του και να πολεμά εναντίον των πονηρών λογισμών, κι ακόμη ότι απέβαλε τελείως τη μνήμη των κοσμικών, τότε του έδινε κελί στη Λαύρα, αν ήταν αδύναμος στο σώμα και φιλάσθενος. Αν όμως ήταν υγιής και δυνατός, του έδινε άδεια να κτίσει ο ίδιος κελί.
Βλέπεις ότι και ο θεσπέσιος Σάββας απαιτούσε από τους μαθητές του τη φύλαξη του νου και κατόπιν τους επέτρεπε να καθίσουν μόνοι σε κελί; Τι θα κάνομε εμείς που καθόμαστε στα κελιά αργοί και δε γνωρίζομε ούτε αν υπάρχει φύλαξη του νου;
On Watchfulness and the Guarding of the Heart companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent